1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nozzle cleaner for removing sputter attached to a cylindrical welding nozzle used in a gas arc welding process.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Conventionally, a nozzle cleaner is used to remove sputter attached to a cylindrical welding nozzle used in a gas arc welding process. There is a conventional nozzle cleaner including a cutter. In this nozzle cleaner, a blade of the cutter is inserted into a welding nozzle retained by a retainer such that the blade comes into contact with an inner peripheral surface of the welding nozzle. As the cutter rotates, the blade of the cutter peels off sputter from the inner peripheral surface of the welding nozzle, thereby removing the sputter. Such a conventional nozzle cleaner is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-326366 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-524576.
In the above-mentioned conventional nozzle cleaner, however, the retainer, which retains the welding nozzle, is driven by a driving source separate from a driving source used to rotate the cutter. Furthermore, in the conventional nozzle cleaner, the insertion of the blade toward the inner peripheral surface of the welding nozzle retained by the retainer is achieved by upwardly moving the cutter with respect to the welding nozzle, using an elevator. For this reason, it is also necessary to use another separate driving source, in order to drive the elevator for an upward movement of the cutter. In this case, there is another problem in that it is difficult to move the cutter while precisely centering the cutter with respect to the welding nozzle.